The Vanished Domain of Lyonesse

Has anyone ever heard of a former land beyond southwest England referred to as Lyonesse?

The land supposdely was between lands end on the southwest tip of England to the Isles of Sicilly. The land of lyonesse was first spoke of by poet Alfred lord Tennyson, 'the lost land of Lyonesse, save the isles of Scilly, all is now wild sea'. Another possible mention of the land of Lyonesse is found in the 15th Century Itinerary of William of Worcester. He refers to 'woods and fields and 140 parochial churches, all now submerged between the mount and the Isles of Scilly'. But he does not give the drowned land a name.

I believe that it is mentioned in a lot of fictional writing. One for sure, King Arthur. But we know that there must be some basis for the older tales. After all before history was written down, it was told in stories.

Found this somewhere...sorry, forgot where.

There are many legends of towns and countries submerged beneath the waves,but the legend of the lost land of Lyonesse is possibly the most famous.Lyonesse,we are told,was once a country beyond Land's End that boasted fine cities and 140 churches;then,on November 11th 1099 a great storm blew up and the marauding sea swept over it,drowning the luckless inhabitants and submerging the kingdom beneath the waves,until all that remained to view were the mountain peaks to the west,known to us now as the Isles of Scilly.Only one man survived.His name was Trevilian and he rode a white horse up to high ground at Perranuthnoe before the waves could overwhelm him.
A 16th century writer tells us that Land's End once stretched far to the west with a watchtower at the farthest point to guide sailors.The rocks known as the Seven Stones were believed to be the remains of a great city,called "The Town" by sailors,who told of dragging up window,doors and other domestic items in their nets.They also related how they had heard the church bells of Lyonesse ringing beneath the waves.
As late as the 1930's a journalist from the News Chronicle,Stanley Baron,was awoken in the night by the muffled ringing of bells and was told by his hosts that he had heard the bells of Lyonesse.A former mayor of Wilton,Edith Oliver,claimed she had twice seen towers,domes,spires and battlements beneath the waves whilst standing on the cliffs at Lands End.It is a rough and rocky sea and many a mariner has met his doom there,so it is not hard to believe that,like most legends,there is an element of truth in it.

isn that where Guinivere came from???

Go and look up the links i posted a while ago on this forum...u may find it there!

*a pained gryff*

This site was pretty good.

www.themodernantiquarian.com...

Between Lands End and the Scilly Isles lay a group of rocks called the Seven Stones, bounding an area known in Cornish as Tregva, 'a dwelling'. Here fisherman reported drawing up pieces of doors and windows.

The Cornish antiquary Richard Carew was the first to identify this lost land with the Lyonesse of Arthurian legend. His report of it appeared in William Camden's Britannia and later in his own Survey of Cornwall (1602). He wrote: 'and the whole encroaching sea hath ravined the whole land of Lioness, together with divers other parcels of no little circuit; and that space between Lands End and the Isles of Scilly, being 30 miles, to this day retaineth that name in Cornish - Lethosow - and carrieth continually a depth of 40 - 60 fathoms, a thing not usual in the sea's proper dominion'.

In Authurian legend, Lyonesse is the name of the homeland of the hero Tristan, nephew of King Mark and lover of Mark's wife, Iseult.